More than 1,030 Palestinian children in Gaza have been killed by Israeli forces since October 7, or about one child every 15 minutes, and more than one-third of the total death toll, said Defense for Children International – Palestine (DCIP)

In a statement on X, DCIP said the Palestinian child death toll in Gaza has passed 1,000, and many are still missing under the rubble of buildings destroyed by Israeli airstrikes and shelling, indicating that the true death toll is much higher.

DCIP warned that Israeli forces are deliberately creating a humanitarian crisis in the Gaza Strip. For children who so far have survived, there is no food, water, electricity, or safety.

"The repercussions of this war will not only affect the victims we have lost, some of which are still trapped under the rubble of their homes, and not only the residential areas that have been completely destroyed, including our own homes, but the psychological impact on us civilians and our children will be catastrophic,” said Mohammad Abu Rukbeh, senior Gaza field researcher at DCIP, who has fled with his family to southern Gaza. Despite Israeli forces ordering Palestinians in northern Gaza to evacuate, Israeli airstrikes continue to rain down in the south.

Over the past ten days, photos Palestinian children with horrendous burns, mortar wounds, and lost limbs have circulated on social media. Hospitals are utterly overwhelmed to treat them. Yet the numbers keep rising.

The UNICEF called for an immediate cease fire as 1.1 million people – nearly half of them children - have been warned to move out of the way ahead of what is expected to be a ground assault on one of the most densely populated places on the planet, but with nowhere safe for civilians to go.

Children and families in Gaza have practically run out of food, water, electricity, medicine and safe access to hospitals, following days of Israeli air strikes and cuts to all supply routes.